RealNetworks cracks the FairPlay code

RealNetworks is expected to announce that it has figured out a way to play …

In a move that will grab Apple's attention in a big way, RealNetworks is expected to announce on Monday that it has broken Apple's stranglehold on the iPod. The latest version of their Harmony software mimics Apple's FairPlay DRM, the format in which tracks from the iTunes Music Store are sold. According to RealNetworks, Harmony will allow music purchased from its RealRhapsody music service to be copied to and played on iPods.

Back in April, news leaked that RealNetworks had made unsuccessful overtures to Apple, trying to convince them to license FairPlay. Apparently RealNetworks was not overly dissuaded by Apple's refusal. Harmony — if it works as advertised — looks to be an end run around Apple's refusals to license FairPlay.

As RealNetworks' development of iPod compatibility was done without Apple's blessing, expect to see — at the very least — some legal saber rattling from Apple. For its part, RealNetworks claims that Harmony's ability to convert tracks for play on the iPod was not the result of reverse engineering. Of course, they have to say that, seeing as how the iPod license forbids purchasers to "copy, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, (or) attempt to derive" its source code. Legal decisions covering actions similar to RealNetworks' have been mixed, which may lead Apple to request an injunction against RealNetworks and the latest version of Harmony.

If RealNetworks' hack of Apple's DRM sticks, it could loosen the near stranglehold Apple currently has on the music download scene. The iTunes Music Store and the iPod feed off of one another's success, and Apple's decision not to license FairPlay has locked users of iTMS into the iPod and vice versa. Harmony could open a fissure in Apple's music edifice, which — if it is implemented well and survives the likely legal challenge — could chip away at Apple's dominant position in music downloads.